Evaluating technology engagement in the time of COVID-19: the Technology Engagement Scale (preprint)

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researchers and communication scholars have developed a broad range of theories and instruments to evaluate the concept of user engagement. However, so far, the proposed instruments are not able to fully capture the processual nature of engaging experiences with technological devices, while focusing instead on state variables or dispositional factors. Therefore, this study aimed at describing and psychometrically validating a novel instrument to measure the dynamics of the engagement with technology, namely the Technology Engagement Scale (TES). Data were collected on a representative sample of 2021 participants in Italy. Results from both the confirmatory analysis and the Rasch model suggested the mono-dimensionality of the 5-item TES. Moreover, empirical ordinal alpha indicated a very good internal consistency. Findings provide also solid evidence for the convergent validity of the proposed instrument. Finally, it emerged that TES levels were able to predict the frequency of online activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, these findings suggest that the TES could be considered a reliable and valid tool, able to evaluate the complex process of the engagement with technology in a simple, quick, and easy-to-administer manner.

COVID Feel Good – A Self-Help Virtual Therapeutic Experience for Overcoming the Psychological Distress of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from a European Multicentric Trial (preprint)

The primary aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of a self-help virtual therapeutic experience (COVID Feel Good) for reducing the psychological burden experienced during the COVID-19 lockdown across different countries. For this purpose, we focused on participants recruited from June 2020 to May 2021 in the context of a European multicenter project including four university/academic sites. Primary outcome measures were depression, anxiety and stress symptoms, perceived stress levels and hopelessness. Secondary outcomes were the experienced social connectedness and the level of fear experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. To assess the efficacy of the intervention in a multicentric context, we evaluated the strength of evidence supporting the COVID Feel Good computing a single summary estimate of the effect across the different countries. Using separate linear mixed-effect models, the most consistent result across the different countries was an improvement of the perceived stress level after the participation in the COVID Feel Good intervention. By pooling the results of the models using a random-effect meta-analysis, we found that COVID Feel Good intervention was associated a decrease in the perceived general distress [mean standardized effect size for general distress in the treatment groups compared to the control conditions was 0.52 (p = 0.007, 95% CI: 0.14, 0.89] and with an increase the perceived social connection [mean standardized effect size for social connection using COVID Feel Good compared to the control conditions was -0.50 (p = < 0.001, 95% CI: -0.76, -0.25)]. Globally findings suggest the efficacy of the proposed protocol and contribute the growing literature supporting the use of digital psychological interventions to reduce the psychological stress among general population during the COVID-19 crisis.

A Free Weekly Self-Administered at-Home Virtual Reality based Protocol for Overcoming the Psychological Burden of Coronavirus: A Pragmatic Waitlist-Controlled Trial Conducted During COVID-19 lockdown in Italy with 2-week follow-up (preprint)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is generating extreme psychological stress associated with sadness, grief, irritability, and mood swings. Virtual reality (VR) is an immersive technology that may enhance individuals’ personal efficacy, emotional response, and wellbeing. Objective: We aimed to conduct a single-cohort, controlled trial with a 2:1 (waiting-list – VR protocol) allocation for a self-administered at-home weekly VR-based protocol for reducing the psychological burden experienced during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. Methods: A national convenience sample of individuals having experienced at least two months of strict social distancing measures (including the stay-at-home order) experienced the following weekly protocol (“COVID Feel Good”, available online here: www.covidfeelgood.com) consisting of two integrated parts: the first part consists of a 10-minute 360° VR video entitled “Secret Garden” and the second part includes a series of social exercises, with a specific goal for each day of the week. Half of the sample experienced the VR video on the smartphone only, while the other half experienced the VR video using an immersive headset. Primary outcome measures were depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms (measured using the DASS-21, the PSS and the BHS scales). Secondary outcomes were the experienced social connectedness and the level of fear experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic (measured using the SCS and FCOR scales). Analytic methods included different separate linear mixed-effects models. Results: The study sample was 40 adults [18 females; mean age 30.3± 12.00 (range: 21–65)]. Results indicated no significant changes (P=1.000) in study variables between the waiting period (i.e., data collected 7 days before the start of the treatment) and the baseline (i.e., data collected at the beginning of the intervention, T0). Participants exhibited improvement from baseline to postintervention for almost all primary variables (all Ps < 0.05), except for the perceived hopelessness (P=0.1098). Results for the secondary outcomes indicated an increase in social connectedness from T0 to T1 (P=0.0327), but not a significant reduction in the perceived fear of Coronavirus (P=0.4121). Results indicated that treatment positive effects were stable at the 2-weels of follow-up for all study variables, except for depressive symptoms. None of the models were significant on the factor “Immersion”, suggesting that there is no significant effect of the modality (immersive vs non immersive) on the results of the treatment. Conclusions: This pragmatic pilot trial tried to understand if and how a weekly VR self-help protocol can help individuals in overcoming the psychological burden associated with spread of the COVID-19 and the consequent health emergency. The results, even if preliminary, suggest the efficacy of the proposed protocol. Moreover, its current availability in 12 different languages - English, Spanish, French, Brazilian/Portuguese, German, Italian, Turkish Japanese, Korean, Farsi, Romanian and Catalan – make COVID Feel Good a free and effective choice for helping individuals worldwide to cope with the psychological distress related to the COVID-19 crisis.

COVID Feel Good – An Easy Self-Help Virtual Reality Protocol to Overcome the Psychological Burden of Coronavirus (preprint)

Background: Living in the time of the COVID-19 means experiencing not only a global health emergency but also extreme psychological stress with potential emotional side effects such as sadness, grief, irritability and mood swings. Crucially, lockdown and confinement measures isolate people who become the first and the only ones in charge of their own mental health: people are left alone facing a novel and potentially lethal situation, and, at the same time, they need to develop adaptive strategies to face it, at home. In this view, easy-to-use, inexpensive, and scientifically validated self-help solutions aiming to reduce the psychological burden of coronavirus are extremely necessary. Aims: This pragmatic trial aims to provide the evidence that a weekly self-help virtual reality (VR) protocol can help overcome the psychological burden of the Coronavirus by relieving anxiety, improving well-being and reinforcing social connectedness. The protocol will be based on the “Secret Garden” 360 VR video online (www.covidfeelgood.com) which simulates a natural environment aiming to promote relaxation and self-reflexion. 360° or spherical videos allow the user to control the viewing direction. In this way, the user can explore the content from any angle like a panorama and experience presence and immersion. The “Secret Garden” video is combined with daily exercises that are designed to be experienced with another person (not necessarily physically together), to facilitate a process of critical examination and eventual revision of core assumptions and beliefs related to personal identity, relationships and goals. Methods: This is a multicentric, pragmatic pilot randomized controlled trial involving individuals who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic and underwent a lockdown and quarantine procedures. The trial is approved by the Ethics Committee of the Istituto Auxologico Italiano. Each research group in all the countries joining the pragmatic trial, aims at enrolling at least 30 individuals in the experimental group experiencing the self-help protocol, and 30 in the control group, over a period of 3 months to verify the feasibility of the intervention. Conclusion: The goal of this protocol is for VR to become the “surgical mask” of mental health treatment. Although surgical masks do not provide the wearer with a reliable level of protection against the coronavirus compared with FFP2 or FFP3 masks, surgical masks are very effective in protecting others from the wearer’s respiratory emissions. The goal of the VR protocol is the same: not necessarily to solve complex mental health problems but rather to improve well-being and preserve social connectedness.